Getting Started with Omni

Omni collects detailed information about electronic resources from thousands of publishers, each providing records with unique standards. As a result, Omni provides access to resources in different ways.

The following page answers frequently asked questions about search results, terminology, access, and system functionality. Contact us if you have any other questions or concerns.

Electronic resources such as e-journals and e-books include an Available Online status. The Full Text Availability link in the Omni record provides access. In some cases, access may not be available due to broken links or other technical issues. Linking errors may be reported directly to the library using the Report an Issue form from the Omni record.

The Available Online status of a search result links to the View Online section of record for that result in Omni. From that section, the Full Text Availability links will direct users to the resource. 

For selected online resources, the Omni search results page will also include other links to the resource. These links may appear as text such as Read PDF, Read Online, or View Issue Contents. These links are provided by third party services and are not available for all Omni search results. If a search result does not include these links, click the title of the search result or the Available Online link. Use the links under Full Text Availability for access.

Get It at Guelph buttons may appear next to cited references on other publisher websites. These buttons generate records in Omni matching the citation.

If a resource is included in our collections, Full Text Availability links will appear in the Omni record. If there is no match, the Full Text Availability links will not appear. In cases when there is no full text access, select the Borrow from Another Library link to submit an Interlibrary Loan request.

For more information, see Interlibrary Loan.

The library subscribes to journals for electronic access to content. These subscriptions cover issues and articles published during certain periods. For example, a subscribed journal may entitle users to access content published between 2005 and 2015. In certain cases, an Omni search result may include articles published outside of the publication window and only the abstract will appear.

Omni will display the coverage period for the journal beneath the Full Text Availability link for the article. If the article publication date corresponds with coverage, access should be available. If only the abstract appears, please complete the Report an Issue form and the library will investigate.

Omni article search results are uniquely configured for each title. Some results lead directly to the article on the publisher website, while others lead to the journal homepage. If the Full Text Availability link leads to a journal homepage, use the available site navigation on the publisher website to find the matching volume and issue for the article.

Supplements are special issues of a journal, often collecting abstracts from conferences. Unlike abstracts from scholarly articles, these abstracts are not introductions to larger published works. They are intended as overviews of presentations and other sessions from these conferences. While they are considered abstracts, these works are technically full text articles. As such, abstracts from supplements are the full text.

To determine if an abstract is part of a supplement, check the citation on the web page of the published article. The citation will often link to the table of contents. Conference abstracts will be listed and are shorter than typical journal articles. Related terms may also be listed, such as Speaker Abstracts, Oral Abstracts, and Posters.

If searching by book title, Omni may provide results for reviews of the book rather than the book itself. Many journals publish reviews using the reviewed book title as the title of the review article. Use filters to remove article results from search. Filter Resource Type by Books & eBooks or use Advanced Search.

The Open Access icon in search results is based on the journal's Open Access status rather than the individual articles. Some journals include both Open Access and subscription content. The Open Access icon will appear for both article types and access may be unavailable. To request the article, select the Get It from Another Library link in the Omni record to submit an Interlibrary Loan request.

For more information, see Interlibrary Loan.

In Omni, the peer-reviewed icon is applied at the journal level, not the article level. However, not all articles in a peer-reviewed journal are peer-reviewed themselves. Results such as editorial content and book reviews included in a peer-reviewed journal will include the icon, but the content may not be peer-reviewed.

Here are some tips on how to find and identify peer-reviewed journal articles.

A 400 Bad Request Error can occur due to local browser issues. Clear browser cookies and cache and access the resource from the original Omni Full Text Availability link. If the error is not resolved after clearing the browser, report the error directly to the library using the Report an Issue form from the Omni record.